Legends Of Tomorrow Producer Explains Why It’s Sitting Out Of This Year’s Arrowverse Crossover

Last year offered DC TV fans the biggest treat ever as all four of the shows that make up the Arrowverse united for one epic, week-long crossover titled “Crisis on Earth-X.” It was the culmination of the yearly crossover event growing in proportion with each new outing, going from just a minor team-up between Green Arrow and the Flash to a multi-dimensional blockbuster.

When this season’s Arrowverse crossover comes around, though, Legends of Tomorrow won’t be part of it. Sure, it’s not like we’re being sold short, as the event will instead introduce Batwoman into the franchise, ahead of her own upcoming spinoff series. But still, losing the Legends will mean that we’ll have far less superheroes involved in the crossover than last year, even with the addition of Kate Kane. But why has this decision been made?

During the press roundtable for the show at San Diego Comic-Con, CinemaBlend put that very question to executive producer Keto Shimizu and she explained that leaving Legends to itself not only gave the season more room to grow but it also meant the crossover wasn’t as much of a “gargantuan” undertaking, like last year’s effort was.

“I mean, all I can say is for us, that means we get sort of more story to ourselves, which we’re totally happy doing. And tonally, we are so different form those other shows at this point, it’s hard to jump back into that world with the other Arrow-verse shows. And we did it last year, and it was of course this gargantuan production and pre-production.

It was crazy. For four shows to do that again, and to try and make it bigger than last time, I just don’t think it’s possible. I think the crossovers are going to be a lot different in general than what we’ve seen, and certainly our absence will be felt, because they are gonna miss us for sure. [laughs] But you know, I think we feel kind of liberated by it.”

Stephen Amell’s previously talked about how tough it was to not only schedule having the casts of all four shows together for “Crisis on Earth-X,” but how strenuous the actual working days were, too, as they basically had to make a superhero movie in the space of just a few weeks. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that the producers decided to ease up a bit this year and have it be a three-way team-up instead.

Legends of Tomorrow returns to The CW for its fourth season on October 22nd, while the Batwoman crossover is expected to air in December, across the ninth episodes of Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl.